


The Guilty Ones

by BlueKiwi, LyraNgalia



Series: Silvered Lightning [2]
Category: The Dresden Files - All Media Types, The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-21
Updated: 2013-04-21
Packaged: 2017-12-09 01:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/768506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueKiwi/pseuds/BlueKiwi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyraNgalia/pseuds/LyraNgalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"This wasn't monster-slaying or magic...it was life at its simplest, most fundamental and terrifying level." The aftermath of the search for Juliet's dagger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Guilty Ones

Having spent a good chunk of his adulthood hanging around Harry meant that Thomas was used to bad news. Mostly bad news that usually ended with "The fire department should be there by now."

But the kind of bad news that started with a single missed phone call and a curt four word voicemail of "we need to talk"? That wasn't the sort of bad news he normally encountered. Especially not with his brother's ex, a woman who only seemed to drop in on Harry's life like some harbinger of disaster and property damage.

Which explained why Thomas looked particularly annoyed as he approached a little bistro in Los Angeles, the hot smoggy air oppressive even against his skin.

Whatever Elaine wanted, it better be good.

 

Elaine had debated a long time about calling him, and she still doubted whether or not this was a good plan or not. No good would come out of it, he had the right to know, this whole thing was part of some universal conspiracy to make her life as difficult as humanly possible - she had enough reasons for telling him and remaining silent. Of course, she only had to look at what had happened with Harry years ago to know it wasn't in her best interest to keep this a secret.

She sat at one of the tables by the window where she had a good view of most of the restaurant and all of the available exits. It would have been paranoia if she hadn't lived the life she had - instead, it was now just pure reflex.

She absently toyed with the slave ring and bracelet around her wrist, the silver clinking against the polished top of the table. She didn't believe she was nervous, but there was a hot and sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that no amount of water could soothe. It was anger, fear, and annoyance - and she supposed that Thomas's arrival wasn't going to help matters.

 

Thomas walked into the bistro with all of his usual unconscious White Court appeal. The waitress/hostess stopped in her tracks, but he waved her stuttering offer of help away with a grin as he swept his attention over the little establishment. At the sight of Elaine, his expression hardened and a glint of silver danced through his eyes as he approached.

Dropping into the chair opposite her with loose-limbed, negligent grace, Thomas gave her a curt nod utterly at odds with the statement his body language radiated. "Inviting me to Los Angeles, Miss Mallory? Aren't you afraid I'll call for family backup?"

 

Unlike a good portion of the patrons and the staff, Elaine didn't turn her head when Thomas entered into the bistro nor when he collapsed into the seat across from her. She continued to look outside before dryly commenting, "One, an invitation requires cordiality on my part." She glanced over at him, not worried at having to meet his eyes and getting trapped in a soulgaze - that was old news. She frowned at him and then turned to look right back out the window. "And your family is the least of my concerns at the moment."

 

He shrugged at her reminder. "You wanted to talk," he retorted. "And my insurance isn't paid up yet, so I wasn't going to invite _you_ to Chicago."

Thomas watched Elaine carefully though, and arched an eyebrow at the rest of her words. "They're not? Now that's a surprise. I figured that was the only thing you'd want to talk about if you didn't want to talk to Harry."

 

"How conscientious of you."

Elaine rubbed at her eyes wearily. She had forgotten how exhausting it was dealing with Thomas, and he hadn't even been there five minutes yet. She wondered again why she had thought this was a good idea before continuing, "Well, for right now, it only concerns you." She paused, brushing fingers over her bracelet in a gesture that may have been careless, may have been nervous. The words, which she supposed should have been easy to say, seemed so much harder now that he was here. "I suppose I don't have to remind you about that case in Vegas two months ago?"

 

The silence that followed her question hung in the air for a second too long. Just a moment, just long enough to realize that what Thomas said next was his second thought, because the first one wasn't something to say. Ever.

"You mean with Pen?" he answered. "Is she causing trouble again?"

 

She glanced at him briefly, frowning. She hadn't heard anything about Margaux from Arthur since the case ended so she had to assume that the trouble-making vampire had vanished into the woodwork. It didn't matter much to Elaine - so long as Penelope wasn't troubling clients, she could have thrown an orgy in Bora Bora for all she cared.

"No. Not with her." She turned her attention back out the window. "Besides, I said it had to do with you."

 

The additional "you idiot" was heavily implied.

Thomas grinned. The 'you idiot' had been heard loud and clear despite being unspoken, but this was the way things worked with them. She was disapproving and and self-righteous, he was annoying and cynically bitter.

"Given how well you think of my kind, how was I supposed to know you meant me instead of shorthand for 'vampires'?" he drawled. "But if it is about me, darling, you're going to have to spit it out. I don't have time for charades."

 

She narrowed her eyes at him, suddenly unreasonably _angry_ with him - this was why she didn't want to deal with him, why she'd rather have kept everything a secret and never have him or Harry find out. That same heat in her rose sharply, and a few patrons cried out in surprise as their cellphones and pagers short-circuited from a sudden spark of electricity, small fumes of smoke rising from them. She didn't care - this had been a bad idea from the start. What had she been thinking?

Quietly picking up her purse, she tossed a five down onto the table. She gave Thomas a cold, dismissive glare before murmuring, "I'm pregnant."

And then she was brushing past him, heading towards the front door.

 

_I'm pregnant._

For a moment, Thomas thought she had been joking. Trying to irritate him the same way he irritated her. But the sharp scent of burned metal, combined with the lingering heat of her anger against his demon's senses had suggested otherwise. Still, it wasn't until the door to the bistro had begun to swing close that he managed to parse it all.

But once it did, Thomas moved quickly, catching the door before it had closed all the way and following Elaine out of the bistro. "Elaine, wait--"

Not the mocking 'Miss Mallory'. Things were too far gone for _that_ to keep on.

 

The abrupt departure from the bistro had done nothing to curb her anger - as she passed people on the street, they were suddenly confused and alarmed by the static that rendered their phones and MP3 players useless. More than one car alarm went off, but she neither noticed nor cared. Her quick stride had already carried her nearly halfway down the block from the bistro's front door before Thomas reached it.

 _Of all the idiotic decisions..._ , she thought darkly as a biker yelped from the sudden explosion of noise in his ears from his headphones. She heard someone call her name but she didn't turn to acknowledge him. _Things don't change._

 

Thomas jogged briskly after Elaine, dodging around an unfortunate bicyclist as he veered off the sidewalk, surprised by his suddenly exploding MP3 player. His cell phone was probably already toast. He didn't try to grab her arm or shoulder to stop her; contrary to popular belief, Thomas Raith was not routinely stupidly suicidal.

Instead he gained on her and stopped in front of her. "You can't just say something like that and walk away," he told her, for the moment utterly maskless, surprise and disbelief plane on his face.

 

Elaine came to a sudden halt as Thomas stopped in front of her, looking up at the raw expression on his face and finding that she couldn't bring herself to care. Fire flashed in her gray eyes and she began to walk around him.

"It doesn't matter to you. I shouldn't have even asked you to come here."

 

He kept pace with her, walking backwards so that he could stay facing her. A pedestrian dodged out of his way, but he didn't seem to notice. Her dismissal angered him, despite the fact that he had spent his entire adult life cultivating that exact facade. She'd seen past that, through trickery and guile.

"My daughter would be surprised to hear that it doesn't matter to me," he shot back.

 

No surprise or disbelief crossed her face at the admission - she only scowled at him and stopped in her tracks, her grip on her purse turning white-knuckled. There was exhaustion in her eyes now, coupled with the same simmering anger from before, that same fatigue that had plagued her ever since the case in Vegas. She didn't want to go through this - not again.

"You know now. That's all I owe you." The words were spoken softly, woven with steel and apathy and weariness.

 

He glanced around them, at the busy street. Traffic, pedestrians. That repressed traffic cop shooting glances at him every few minutes as he pretended to write a ticket. Hardly the place for any sort of conversation. Especially not one this serious.

But he had driven her out of the bistro, hadn't he? By being flippant, thinking all she wanted was some help or information on a case. "You're right," he acknowledged quietly. "But it's not all I owe you."

 

She was trying not to think how irrevocably tied to him she was now because of one stupid, selfless move. It made her head pound with the promise of an oncoming migraine and nausea to churn in the pit of her stomach, and if she thought about it any longer, she was going to break. Maybe slowly at first, but it would catch up with her eventually and she couldn't afford that.

She shook her head slowly, looking grim. "No. That's all I want to owe you. I don't want anything else from you."

 

Thomas frowned, and his eyes narrowed at Elaine's dismissal. "Well, we can't always get what we want, can we?" he sniped. "You might not want my help but you're going to need it." He paused. "Unless you want the kid to wake up one morning next to a dead boy or girl wondering what just happened."

 

Something inside her, the part of her reining in the rage and frustration and despair, snapped. Her eyes flew open and suddenly the weariness from before completely vanished. It was sheer reflex what happened, fueled by her fear and uncertainty, but the next thing she knew, her fist was flying across Thomas's jaw. She didn't care if she was being unreasonable or perhaps consider the possibility that he was right - she wanted to _hurt_ him, wanted to leave some painful mark on him.

She had thought about it, knew how likely a possibility it was that that would happen. She _hated_ it. She hated thinking that she was going to lose someone - _her_ someone, however nameless or faceless at the moment - to something darker and more powerful than she could hope to be. And she hated thinking that maybe he was right. Even as some pedestrians gave the two of them alarmed looks, she _knew_ that he was right.

She leaned against the nearest wall, rubbing at her eyes, her shoulders shaking. Stars above, what was she going to _do_?

 

Pain blossomed along his jaw at the punch Elaine threw at him, and Thomas staggered back to catch his balance. He tasted blood, but nothing seemed broken or loose. He must have just bitten his tongue. He forced himself to breathe slowly, to watch Elaine, really _see_ her. It surprised him, to see her shoulders shaking. It was so easy to think of her like he thought of Harry, as a wizard, someone dangerous and somehow possessed of a near bottomless well of magic and energy.

He'd forgotten, in his own attempt to process, that this was different. That this wasn't monster-slaying or magic. That it was life at its simplest, most fundamental and terrifying level.

Thomas touched his jaw gingerly and used the moment to actually think about the words that wanted to leap out of his mouth. As much grief as he gave Harry for not thinking before he spoke, Thomas did too. Maybe it was genetic.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "For being an ass."

 

Elaine looked up at him wearily - she didn't want to argue with him here and really didn't know how she felt about even continuing the conversation. She was tired, furious. She accepted the apology with a small nod, folding her arms across her stomach as if trying to keep herself together.

"When...?" she began, but then cut herself off. No, she couldn't think about that right now. Instead, she murmured, "You don't have to."

 

He shrugged. "I know. But no kid deserves my family." Thomas offered her a hand, knowing she likely wouldn't take it unless she was worse off than she looked, but he made the gesture anyway. "Can we go back and sit down? Talk about this without ending up on COPS tonight?"

 

Elaine looked down at his proffered hand, her arms still stubbornly crossed. On one hand, she knew that if she was going to have any hope raising a child that was half-vampire, she was going to need all of the help she could get. There was a slim chance that the child would be neither wizard nor vampire, but it was a chance that Elaine knew she probably wouldn't get - life was never that uncomplicated.

On the other hand...

She bit her lip bloodless and looked away, disgusted at the pinch of tears in her eyes and not wanting him to see. Damn it all, she wasn't prepared for any of this. She was in way over her head this time, and it wasn't as if there were several options of people she could turn to. After what had happened with Aurora, she had always depended on herself. It was lonely, but it had worked for years. But now...

She finally nodded, and when she spoke, her voice was surprisingly steady. "Fine."

 

He visibly relaxed at her acceptance, and began headed back towards the bistro, every few steps glancing over to make sure Elaine was following him. "You going to punch me if I asked if you're sure?"

 

A half-hearted glare passed over her face. "Sure about you or sure about this? Because the row of days throwing up in front of my clients was clue enough about the latter."

 

Thomas shrugged off her glare. "Either. Both," he answered, running a hand through his hair. The news sat uncomfortably in the back of his mind, though the more rational part of his mind knew it would have to happen someday given biology and what he was. It was kind of surprising it took this long.

That was a better train of thought than the idea that Elaine was pregnant with his child. Or the idea of having to tell Harry.

"Figured I should ask. Seems like the sort of thing you're supposed to do given the situation."

 

She nodded, even though his back was turned. "I'm sure."

There was a finality in those words that made her sick with fear. This wasn't some magical demon or resurrected god or twisted spell that she had to go up against - it was alarmingly, frighteningly normal. It was more human than anything she usually had to face, and it scared her because she wasn't prepared for something it.

She had no idea where to begin.

 

There was a long, awkward silence as Thomas digested her words. There was an unnatural heavy weight to them that he had never had when he and Justine had kidnapped and subsequently adopted Gwen from Lara. Maybe because they had planned for it, had gone with the express purpose of keeping an innocent child out of the monsters' hands (not that raising her had been easy).

This? This was a little different.

"So..." He paused and waited until they were at the bistro's door again. Thomas opened it and waved Elaine in before him as he spoke. "You know you can't stay in LA, right?"

 

She accepted the uncomfortable silence, could deal with it because it gave her a moment to try to straighten out her own thoughts and try not to douse the growing panic sitting heavy in her chest.

She did turn at Thomas's words though, a mixture of surprise and suspicion lighting up her eyes. "Why not?"

 

Thomas waved the waitress away as he headed back to their abandoned table and gave Elaine a disbelieving look. "The White Court knows you," he answered. "Especially after the number you pulled on that Skavis. Vampires don't exactly forget."

He sat down and nudged her chair away from the table for her with a foot. Not exactly pulling out the chair; she wouldn't take that kind of chivalry from him, but he did what he could. Thomas raised his hand and continued ticking off points. "Add to that Pen knows we were in Vegas. And unless you can hide how far along you are by a couple of months, they're going to figure out it's either me or Harry."

Thomas viciously stomped down on the knowledge that this means they were going to have to tell Harry at some point.

"Just saying that you might want to be somewhere with backup closer at hand."

 

Elaine sat down on the chair, ignoring the churn in her stomach when a waitress passed with a tray laden with food. The mere smell of it made her want to turn around and leave the bistro as fast as she could, but instead she stubbornly closed her eyes and forced the idea of finding the nearest trash can to the farthest possible recess in her mind.

She didn't want to tell Thomas that he was right, that it wasn't safe for her to be by herself. But that didn't mean she had to like the alternative, especially when the alternative would eventually require Harry's involvement.

"So you're saying that it would be safer to stay in Chicago? Personally, that sounds like walking right into the lion's den and hoping that lions suddenly become vegan."

 

"And staying here would be like wandering around the savanna alone and waiting for someone to come get you from five hours away after you'd been mauled," he countered, irritation sneaking into his voice.

Thomas sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm saying if you move to Chicago I can keep the White Court off your back." He neglected to mention exactly how that could come about. She really would kill him if he told him that right now.

 

"Somehow, I think my chances are better here," Elaine replied dryly. "If I stay here, you're right - they may find out. But if I go to Chicago, they definitely will." She shook her head wearily, sitting back in her seat and glancing out the window at the sun-drenched sidewalk. "It's a risk either way, but more of one if I go."

 

Sheer obstinate stubbornness. No wonder she and Harry got along so well.

He glared at her, knowing that even though her focus was at the world outside, she'd be able to see him in her peripheral vision. She wouldn't take her eyes off him completely. "And I'm supposed to have no say in how the kid's to stay safe?" he asked. "Just trust the damn wizard who knows best?"

 

"Your say," Elaine replied, her words frigid, "was a suggestion that I'm turning down. If it matters that much to you, you can come here. But I'm not going to Chicago."

 

Heavy silence hung between them, the cold, stony lack of expression on Thomas' face a virtual mirror of her icy tone. Finally, he said through gritted teeth. "Fine. But it'll be your fault when Harry sets your apartment building on fire."

 

The fire from before had turned cold as an Arctic gale. Elaine turned to face him, her expression stormy, something dark lurk in her eyes.

"Harry," she said slowly and carefully, "has nothing to do with this."

 

"Pretty sure he does when he has to be an uncle. Again."

It was a combination of irritation at Elaine's stubbornness and his own mental attempts to digest the news that made Thomas slip. But as the words came out, he sighed. It wasn't like they could hide this one forever.

He stopped still, and pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand. "Welcome to the family."

 

Elaine didn't say anything for a several moments following Thomas's slip. She just looked blankly at him as the words slowly settled into her mind, as the meaning wrapped around her thoughts like a poisonous gas.

_An uncle...? But..._

No.

When the realization set in, there was nothing she could say or do to stop the sharp pang of shock and embarrassment and fury that unfurled in her chest. She blanched, pushing herself away from the table and staring at Thomas as if she was seeing a stranger. It made _sense_. The soulgaze - it made sense that the exasperated affection he had felt for the other wizard was one of sibling fondness, that the arguments they had could only be those familiar on a family level. And she couldn't blame herself for not having seen it because there was nothing to _see_...

_Stars...no, no, **no**._

She opened her mouth to say something, but then the whiff of that damn _sandwich_ came back, and her control - already shaken loose by Thomas's revelation - broke. Without saying a word, her hand flew to her mouth and a second later, she was gone, disappearing around the corner towards the restrooms.

God _damn_ him.

 

Thomas slipped into the ladies' room quietly, not that he really needed to judging by the retching he heard from the stall. Without a word, he dampened a paper towel and brought it into the stall with him, laying it across the back of Elaine's neck after he'd gathered her hair up and out of harm's way.

And waited in silence.

 

She shivered and almost flinched at the cool touch on the back of her neck, grimacing at the taste of bile left over in her mouth. She didn't want this - there was an overwhelming cloud of panic that threatened to settle over her, from the idea that she was going to be a mother to the thought that Harry was going to have to know about any of this.

If it had been any other day or any other problem, she would have been able to pull back and logically examine her choices, her situation. But it wasn't and _she_ wasn't. She bowed her head forward, trying to ignore the dull throb at her temples and the cold pain in her chest.

 

There was something familiar about this whole thing. It had been a long time ago, when he'd been younger and the woman with him had been younger, shorter, more delicate. How many times before the night he'd nearly killed her, before there was irrevocable proof that he loved her, had he done this exact thing? Held Justine's hair after a night of far too much indulgence, drunk on youthful invincibility as well as alcohol?

It had been a long time since he'd done that, but muscle memory never really forgot, and Thomas began rubbing light, gentle circles along Elaine's scalp as he waited for her to finish.

"I'm pretty sure you're the only woman I've ever known who's actually gotten physically ill when she says I disgust her," he said with dry amusement.

 

She didn't have the energy to put together a sharp retort or even to bat away his hand. Instead, she just shook her head, not really knowing or caring what she was disagreeing with.

Old habits died hard.

 

Thomas heaved a sigh, more resigned than frustrated or irritated by her response. He deserved as much, he supposed. "So if you're staying in LA, I get to tell Harry about this. And he'll try to kick my ass from Chicago to Ontario."

 

She sagged against the stall, closing her eyes and trying to quell her stomach. Hell's bells, seven more months of this.

"Who's to say you don't deserve it?" Despite the intent, the words lacked their usual venom.

 

He shrugged, realized she wouldn't be able to see it, and spoke instead as he leaned against the doorway of the stall. "I probably do," he acknowledged. "Doesn't mean I'm looking forward to the experience. He bites."

 

She laughed, but there was no humor in it - it was laugh of someone who either had to do that or burst into tears. Absently moving back a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she quietly replied, "It's going to be dangerous."

From the almost thoughtful manner with which she spoke, it was clear she wasn't talking about Harry.

 

Thomas gave her a dry smile, touched with both cynicism and determination. "I helped raised the daughter of the head of the White Court and hid her so well her own mother hasn't been able to find her," Thomas answered. He rarely talked about Gwen, especially after Justine died, but Elaine would have to learn more about her eventually, and since he was already apparently spilling all the family secrets, he might as well add this to the pot.

"And I've lived with Harry. I think I have a clue how bad it can get."

 

Elaine fell silent, wrapping her arms around her stomach. On one hand, she didn't trust Thomas further than she could throw him, even with the apparent chivalrous attitude he was currently displaying. On the other, she couldn't expect everything to stay the same now that this had been dropped in both of their laps - things were going to have to change, for better or for worse. Her life, their relationship, everything...

She rose unsteadily to her feet, wincing at the wave of vertigo that passed over her. She couldn't make these decisions - not now. She had come into this with a plan - simple and to the point - and it had since been to shot to pieces by Thomas's initial attitude and revelation. A decision like that...no, she had to wait, even if it meant being pretentiously stubborn.

"Let me think about it."

 

He nodded and stood straight, taking a step backward and out of the doorway of the stall. The expression on his face made it clear he wasn't happy about it, but the lack of protest spoke even more clearly that he accepted it.

"Fine. I'll find a hotel."


End file.
